South Africa announces new energy plan

• 24 days ago (2025-10-20)
• David Flin

Africa 351 Coal 340 Gas 443 Nuclear 712

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South Africa has announced a new national energy plan, which proposes reviving its stalled SMR nuclear project and expand gas-fired power generation.

Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, South Africa’s Electricity and Energy Minister, said that the updated Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) will involve the country investing €120 billion in energy infrastructure by 2042. The revised plan expects nuclear and gas to contribute 16 per cent of total generation capacity within 14 years, up from the current 3 per cent. It also anticipates coal falling from 58 per cent to 27 per cent.

The IRP revives Eskom ’s abandoned pebble-bed modular reactor programme, first proposed in 1999 and shelved in 2010.

Ramokgopa described the IRP as: “The single biggest investment programme of the post-apartheid era, ensuring we’re able to achieve energy security.”